Hadanelith
Hadanelith grew up in the encampment around Urtho's Tower during the Mage Wars. During the evacuation he ended up escaping with Clan k'Leshya, the gryphons and the remnant of the Fifth Army. He was a resident of White Gryphon in the years following its founding. A clever man, he spent a year posing as a kestra'chern with falsified credentials before anyone caught him. That would have been a minor offense by itself. It was what he did to his female clients that was the problem. A psychopath and sadist, Hadanelith tortured them, eventually breaking and subjugating their will until they were mentally and emotionally enslaved. He viewed it as 'carving' and 'sculpting' them into artworks, though he believed each still remained flawed. His victims included Telica, Dianelle, Suriya, Gaerazena, Bethia and Yonisse. Hadanelith's activities finally came to the attention of White Gyphon's ruling Council after one of his victims broke the code of silence and told Amberdrake what had been happening. Judeth immediately swore out an arrest warrant. His sentence was exile. He was chained and taken to the plateau above the city. From there he was escorted to the edge of the cultivated lands, freed, and given until nightfall to get past the border marker. If he had been caught within the city's borders after dawn, he would be an open target for anyone who wanted to deal with him, up to and including his execution. He was expected to die while wandering the wilderness with nothing but the clothes on his back. Once the Haighlei discovered the existence of White Gryphon, Noyoki scryed the area for anyone who could be of use to him. He found Hadanelith living just outside the border and sneaking in the steal food from the gardens. After he scryed out people with knowledge of Hadanelith's crimes, and discovered for himself what the man had done. He immediately sent a small ship of his own to quietly retrieve him. Hadanelith used his rudimentary mental Gift to pull the Haighlei language from the minds of his hosts. He was amused to find that they wanted him to torture and kill their targeted victims, and readily agreed to the arrangement. Noyoki and Kanshin were pleased that he knew what various forms of torture and death by magic looked like, and could emulate it with knives. Hadanelith had gained this knowledge as a youngster, studying the victims of Ma'ar's spells after they were brought into camp. As part of Noyoki's plan for revenge that he believed would ultimately put him on the Lion Throne, Kanshin and Noyoki got Hadanelith access to his victims, then pulled him back out afterward, and supplied him with the evidence he needed to plant to frame Skandranon and Amberdrake for the crimes. In the culmination of the plot, he was sent to assassinate Emperor Shalaman during the Eclipse Ceremony wearing an illusion that made him appear to be Amberdrake. Hadanelith's payment for this, beyond his delight in his work, was to be revenged on Amberdrake who he blamed for his exile. He was also to be given Winterhart as his personal toy after Noyoki ascended the throne. Eventually, the group was caught. At the last moment, Skandranon escaped his captors and stopped Hadanelith. Once the illusion was shattered, the emperor's guards jumped Hadanelith and chained him. At Shalaman's request, he was handed over to the Haighlei for justice. Hadanelith was given to the priest-mages. His sentence was to have his mind peeled away layer by layer, thus giving up all his secrets, but leaving only an empty shell behind. That shell would live out the rest of its days housed with the shells of Noyoki and Kanshin in a public place, to serve as examples of the ultimate penalty for their reign of terror. In the series Hadanelith appears in the following work: * The White Gryphon, Mage Wars series, volume 2Category:Characters